IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

PrePrint: The History and Growth of IBM's DB2

IBM’s Database 2 (DB2) relational database management system (DBMS) shipped in the early 1980s and drove billons of dollars of revenue to IBM and other firms within a decade of its debut. The product spawned a wealth of add-on tools, shaped the future of mainframe computing, and provided independent software vendors with a strong, reliable, and scalable platform for mission-critical applications. Today, DB2 spans multiple operating systems and is widely deployed across a broad spectrum of industries. In this paper, we explore the beginnings of DB2 and trace its rise to prominence.

PrePrint: 'This is not a computer': negotiating the microprocessor

The Intel 4004 μ-Computer is the earliest known microprocessor-based hardware distributed by Intel. This paper relates the information concerning the 4004 $\mu$-Computer in an effort to gain a more complete historical perspective on the liminal period in the corporate history of Intel when, soon after the introduction of its first microprocessor, the company was wrestling with the `one chip CPU -- computer or component?' dilemma and tried to position itself in the emerging microcomputing market that it helped to create.

PrePrint: Facit and the displacement of mechanical calculators

This article explains why Facit, a Swedish manufacturer of mechanical calculators, typewriters and office furniture collapsed in the shift from mechanical to electronic calculators in the early 1970s. Facit struggled to develop its own electronic calculators as its competencies were related to mechanics rather than electronics. The technological discontinuity also implied changes in industry structure and therefore Facit faced increased competition. The rapid development of integrated circuits in 1967-72 implied that all these structural changes happened in a short period of time, putting firms like Facit in an awkward position. The paper also contributes to existing theory by arguing that a firm’s geographical location affects its response to a technological discontinuity. Being situated in a small Swedish company town with skills related to mechanics augmented the company’s difficulties as electronics was primarily developed in the United States and in Japan.

PrePrint: "A New Field in Electrical Engineering": The Origins and Early History of Computer Engineering in the United States

This paper examines the origins and early history of the field of computer engineering in the United States, from the mid-1940s to mid-1950s. The account is based on both primary and secondary sources, and draws theory from technology studies and the sociology of professions. The paper begins by discussing roles played by engineers and engineering during development of some of the first high-speed digital computers. It then describes the efforts of two electrical engineering institutes as they staked claims in computing, followed by a discussion of bifurcated versus integrated visions for the new field. The final sections turn to the emergence and establishment of computer engineering as a distinct field or specialty, primarily in the context of professional societies and private sector firms. One main goal of this paper is to show how the jurisdiction of engineering expanded to include computer hardware design.

PrePrint: From Ancient to Modern Computing: A History of Information Hiding

In this paper, a methodological approach to the historiography of computing is proposed in terms of information hiding, i.e. the introduction of Levels of Abstraction (LoAs) between the human being and the computing machine. This approach applies the LoAs in terms of the epistemological levellism proposed within the Philosophy of Information (PI) to the transition from ancient to modern computing. In particular, the black box metaphor and Von Neumann's architectures are discussed. Also, a formalisation of the method of LoAs is proposed as a mathematical counterpart. Information itself is then treated as structure-preserving functions, so that a LoA can distinguish what kind of information gets hidden when human beings interact with computing machines.

PrePrint: Informix: Information Management on Unix

The history of Informix is told from the founder’s point of view and his personal experience. He talks about Silicon Valley of the late 1970’s, the “fire in the valley” days, and the feeling that history was going to be made and that computer scientists would be playing a major role in these changes. The relational database revolution, the flourishing success of the PC packaged software industry, and the Unix server victories are the backdrop for this story. But like all stories about a young company, it is a story about people and what drives entrepreneurs to take oversized chances and accept the risks involved.

PrePrint: CPL - failed venture or noble ancestor?

This is a personal account of the development of the programming language CPL in the early 1960s by a joint team from the University Mathematical Laboratory at Cambridge and the Institute of Computer Science in London. The project was to develop a language that would be suitable for all computer applications, whether scientific or otherwise, would efficiently exploit the immense power of the Ferranti Atlas, would be easy to use and, above all, would exhibit regularity in its form and facilities. The project failed to achieve these aspirations, but did lay important groundwork by establishing some of the basic principles that underlie today’s languages and directly led to the development of BCPL, B and ultimately C.

IEEE Annals of the History of Computing -

IEEE Annals of the History of Computing